From: Bhaktarupa (das) ACBSP (Puri - IN) <>
To: Srivasa Pandit Das <> 
Cc: HpS (HHR) <>; Vaisesika Prabhu <>
Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2017 2:19 AM
Subject: Re: Bhakti Vaibhava certificates
As per the standards there are four areas of assessment, not just one question paper per semester. Since the kind of procedure that you used was never anticipated by the Board members, they will need to be convinced that it was satisfactory. Please prepare a full presentation of what procedures were followed in this regard for all the assessment areas, addressed to the Board.

Your servant, Bhaktarupa Das

___________________________________________________

HpS - Hare Krsna. Prabhu, BOEX

AGTSP Paoho

You asked "Who prepared the exams" and it seems Srivasa pt. Das answered that question. The exams were done Semester by Semester, which I think is pretty common. This included a total of 200 short answer questions over eight Semesters as required and then the one-hundred pages of essays as required. The essays were written more or less as we did each chapter and then collected and edited into one document which is with Srivasa pt. Das.

The Semester Exams also included the testing on the relevant Slokas cited in each Chapter and also those cited within Purports eg. "parasya shaktir vividaiva sruyate svabhavika jnana bala kriya ca".

1. Short Answer

2. Slokas

3. Essays

Personal Presentations: Then, our structure, for four years, was roughly doing one chapter a week. Everyone would use the Chapter Study Guides we had developed and then meet with their Study Partner each week on line - usually 1.5 hours. Then there was a general meeting on-line every Saturday. One member was the Presenter and another the Chief Guest. These presentations were about 50-minutes with Power Point shows and the Chief Guest would come in if there was some confusion during the presentation and everyone would make their individual questions and comments after that. Again that was about 1.5 hours. The next week the Chief Guest was the Presenter.

There were one week for Module Reviews and one week for Semester Reviews.

In rotation each Semester one pair of partners were Curriculum Development Team and they also would set the test questions from the Semester Review Questions, like the Question Study Bank for the Mayapura Institute. The class was about nine devotees: Two PhD, four Bachelor, our selves, Vaisesika Das etc.

There are two more groups now in progress in San Jose.

The Semester Review Questions (Source of Exams) was reviewed by everybody and edited, and many or most cases Radhika-rama Das saw the question sheets and said that they were very nice.

The very last Semester the Temple President in Boise was Anantarupa Das and he had some strong criticisms of the entire world wide program  and local application that have been very useful.

So, and the students presented about every two months over 48-months.

Anything else?

In general, as Member of the Executive Committee of the Ministry etc we see, as Yadunandana Swami said, higher education in ISKCON is in diapers. 

We've watched the program in Mayapura, Govardhana Eco-village, San Jose, Houston, Washington D. C., Vrndavana, Melbourne, Brazil etc and the Board of Examiners and there is a LOT of work we all have to do to bring this up to a good standard, but the diplomas that Harvard gives now cannot be compared to the diplomas they gave in 1636!

My opinion and I hear from others in those programs that all the Sastri Studies Institutions have serious defects and we need to have more communication and cooperation, accept that people will have half a brain in their heads and understand that this is a start up program and we are rewarding students as much for their pioneering spirit as well as for their memorizing facts and concepts.

I think Srivasa pt. Das also explained how Vaiseka Das is already finishing his last Master's Class. These are great and we can include them as part of the curriculum in the future for all BhVai programs if the want.

As far as I can see San Jose followed the proposed system which was approved by the BOEX and it is the basically the same system that is being used by most everyone with adjustment for residential and on-line facilities etc. I don't see how it is something that was never done before????

Also, the students in San Jose in the current groups have physical meetings on a weekly basis now and we have been having a week of physical meetings with all the students in Boise each year.

Hare Krsna!